BitGou: Tuesday Morning Briefing: Reluctant Supreme Court on collision course with Trump

U.S. Supreme Court

The Supreme Court’s reluctance to take up new cases on volatile social issues is putting it on a collision course with President Donald Trump, whose Justice Department is trying to rush such disputes through the appeals system to get them before the nine justices as quickly as possible.

Planned Parenthood’s affiliates in Louisiana do not perform abortions, but some in Kansas do. Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for low-income Americans, pays for abortions only in limited circumstances such as when a woman’s life is in danger. The Supreme Court rejected appeals by Louisiana and Kansas seeking to end their public funding to women’s healthcare and abortion provider Planned Parenthood through the Medicaid program, with Trump’s appointee Brett Kavanaugh among the justices who rebuffed the states.

United States

Kneeling in front of riot police, 32 religious leaders and activists were arrested at the U.S. border fence in San Diego during a protest to support the Central American migrant caravan. More than 400 demonstrators, many leaders of churches, mosques, synagogues and indigenous communities, sought a halt to detention and deportation of migrants and for the United States to welcome the caravan that arrived in Tijuana, Mexico in November.

U.S. lawmakers have reached an agreement on the Farm Bill that drops a proposal to tighten food stamps restrictions backed by President Trump, and are looking to vote on it this week, according to congressional staffers.

At least three people had died and thousands of homes were left without power in the Carolinas and Virginia after a storm dumped up to two feet of snow in parts of the southeastern United States.

Commentary: Robert Mueller’s latest filings about statements by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen have brought the president closer to the prospect of prosecution when he becomes a private citizen, writes Tim Weiner, a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner for his reporting and writing on American intelligence agencies. “Mueller and the FBI agents he commands have many months of work ahead. I suspect they are assembling the facts that one day will fill a sealed indictment – United States vs. Donald J. Trump."

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U.S. military ends search for five Marines missing in the sea off Japan since two Marine Corps aircraft were involved in an accident during an air-to-air refueling exercise on Dec. 6 https://reut.rs/2EpEZM2 via @kellyJapan

1:29 AM - Dec 11, 2018

World

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte urged Europe to overcome its “short-sighted” vision of fiscal rigor and said that he was working hard to bridge the gap with Brussels over Italy’s expansionary 2019 budget. Italy’s coalition parties, the League and 5-Star Movement, are resisting any major reduction to next year’s deficit target as the government seeks to avoid EU disciplinary action over its 2019 budget, a government source said.

Brazil will pull out of a United Nations pact on dealing with rising migration, the incoming foreign relations minister said, joining the United States and a growing number of countries in rejecting the agreement.

Britain’s parliament will vote on whether to approve Theresa May’s Brexit deal before Jan. 21, her spokesman said. Some lawmakers in the Prime Minister’s Conservative Party have said they have submitted letters of no confidence in the British leader.

Spain’s interior minister said he would send national police to Catalonia if local authorities did not do more to stop protests like the one that shut down major highways over the weekend.

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.@Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been imprisoned in Myanmar since Dec. 12, 2017. Follow updates on the case: https://reut.rs/2EpANfg

7:00 AM - 11 Dec 2018

Business

Huawei CFO back in Canada court as bail hearing set to wrap

A top executive at Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies is set to return to a Vancouver courtroom, as the judge weighs final issues in determining whether she should be freed on bail while awaiting extradition proceedings.

4 min read

Court rejects Nissan ex-chairman Ghosn's appeal to end detention

A Tokyo court rejected ousted Nissan Motor chairman Carlos Ghosn’s appeal to end his detention following his arrest last month on allegations of financial misconduct.

3 Min Read

Foreign investors spurn U.S. Treasuries as curve threatens to invert

A worrying sign of inversion in the U.S. Treasury bond curve is dulling the appeal of the developed world’s highest-yielding bond market for foreign investors. Overseas investors are reviewing their investments or shunning Treasuries as rates at the short end rise above those at the longer end and make it unprofitable for holders of these bonds to hedge their currency risks.

6 min read

Breakingviews: Apple case underscores Chinese tech ties that bind

It is hard not to see tense U.S.-China situations these days though a trade-war prism. Such is the case with a Fuzhou court banning the sale of some Apple iPhone models just days after the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer in Canada. The timing of U.S. regulators reviving concerns about audits seems curious, too. Even without direct links to increasingly frayed relations between Beijing and Washington, the last few days serve as a reminder of the technology ties that tightly bind them, writes Jeffrey Goldfarb.

3 min read